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Blind Weaponmaster

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"He knows my every move, yet, he cannot see.
As my mind fights to make sense of the impossible,
he has turned my sight into a liability."
Huey about Zatoichi, the Blind Swordsman, The Boondocks, "Granddad's Fight"

They hold their staff (or other Weapon of Choice) like they know what they're doing, but since they're completely without sight surely they aren't that dangerous, right? Wrong. The Blind Weaponmasters are some of the most deadly adversaries a character can face. In possession of supernatural senses born from blindness or just Badass Normal enough to compensate for the weaponmaster’s loss with other natural senses, the Blind Weaponmaster will surprise any overconfident character and make heroes push their skill to its limits. A blind weaponmaster may invoke Your Eyes Can Deceive You by fighting in a visibly challenging location such as fog or total darkness which would even out the drawback or even reverse it on the weaponmaster ‘s opponent instead. The Blind Weaponmaster’s weapon of choice is stereotypically a staff, but other blunt weapons have been used as well. Blades are rare but not unheard of.


A subtrope of Handicapped Badass. See also the aforementioned Your Eyes Can Deceive You for when normally-sighted characters would have to fight without the use of their eyes.


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    Anime & Manga 
  • Downplayed Trope in Berserk. Guts has only lost his right eye, which still affects his depth perception and leaves him with no field of vision on his right side. Guts has learned to use his hearing to compensate.
  • Bleach: Kaname Tousen, up until his hollow transformation. Ironically, it was gaining sight that led to his downfall.
  • Kill la Kill: Uzu Sanageyama sews his own eyes shut when he finds himself relying too heavily on them, becoming even more badass in the process. He gains Hyper-Awareness and becomes virtually impossible to hit or to dodge. In the penultimate episode, he has them reopened. His intentional handicap has been taken away, AND he's still got his proficiency with his other senses, making him insanely dangerous. Thankfully, the Devas have well undergone a Heel–Face Turn by this point.
  • Ninja Scroll: One of the Quirky Miniboss Squad is a blind swordmaster. He can feel out the location of the sun and reflect it off his sword as a blinder, turning the tables on his seeing enemy. He loses when his attack is deflected by a knife that got stuck in bamboo earlier in the fight which he can no longer track by hearing, giving Jubei an opening.
  • One Piece: Issho, a.k.a. Admiral Fujitora is a blind swordsman and clearly based on Zatoichi. On top of his swordsmanship and Haki, he's a Gravity Master.
  • Pandora Hearts: Xerxes Break eventually loses his eyesight. Doesn't stop him from being (arguably) the most badass character in the entire manga/anime.
  • Ranma ½: Mousse is not blind, per se, but so short-sighted that even with coke-bottle glasses he cannot distinguish between people and objects, fights with a range of deadly bladed weapons. Interestingly enough, while he's been known to mistake a bicycle for a long-haired Chinese girl, he has absolutely no problem fighting even deadly, fast-moving adversaries in the night and without his glasses.
  • Samurai Champloo: Sara, a beautiful, barefoot blind musician whom the trio encounters near the end of their journey, turns out to be frighteningly skilled with a spear. She fights with an eerie elegance while using her senses to compensate for her lack of eyesight.
  • Shigurui:
    • Grandmaster Iwamoto Kogan blinds Irako Seigen using his secret sword cut nagare boshi (shooting star), as punishment for sleeping with his concubine Iku. Irako and Iku are rescued by a swordsman named Tsukioka Yukinosuke, who takes them to a village in the Hida Mountains. There, with the help of Iku and Yukinosuke, Irako goes through the painful and difficult process of adjusting to his blindness, and ultimately develops the ability to sword fight as efficiently as he did before. He goes beyond that, however, by inventing a technique called mumyou sakanagare ("lightless reverse flow"): it's a modification of and a counter to Kogan's nagare boshi, which is even more powerful because Irako sticks the point of his sword into the earth instead of gripping it in his other hand as Kogan did, so that he can use his whole body to charge up the sword with energy and release it like a slingshot in a vertical ascending strike as he dives toward his opponent. With this technique, Irako comes back and starts killing highly skilled members of Kogan Ryuu one after another. He eventually earns the favor of the shogun's brother, Tokugawa Tadanaga, and his fearsome reputation as the Blind Dragon spreads far and wide.
    • Later on the trope is discussed between several characters. After three members of the Kogan school are murdered in succession, each killed by an unknown swordsman using an ascending vertical strike, the remaining members get together and discuss what to do. Protagonist Fujiki Gennosuke states he suspects Irako Seigen may be the culprit, and others back him up by pointing out that each of the victims' corpses was arranged in a way that referenced Seigen's grudge against each of them. When senior instructor Ushimata Gonzaemon points out that Irako is blind, the others argue that it's possible Irako could have defeated them because Munakata and Yamazaki both faced him in the pitch black of night, while Suzunosuke was an immature pupil. Gonzaemon, however, tells them about a certain swordsman of the Sengoku era named Toda Seigen. Toda was a master of Chuujou Ryuu, who specialized in using a sword of less than two feet to subdue an opponent using a blade over three feet in length. One of his disciples was the famous Sasaki Kojiro. In 1561, Seigen was commanded by his lord to fight a match with a disciple of Shinto Ryuu named Umezu, wielding a staff three and a half feet long. This was despite the fact that Seigen had gone blind froma disease. Using a club barely more than a foot long, he won by lunging through Umezu's defense and wildly beating to a pulp at close range. Gonzaemon observes that this was how Toda had to fight, because he could not see; that is what a blind swordsman is like. In contrast, each of the warriors of Kogan Ryuu were killed by a single, incredibly precise strike. That's why at this point Gonzaemon doesn't believe it could have been Irako himself, but as they will soon find out, Irako has surpassed what a blind swordsman ought to be capable of.
  • In Tokyo Ghoul:Re, Kishou Arima turns out to be a downplayed version of this trope. Glaucoma has robbed him of the sight in his right eye, and his left is beginning to fail as well....but he manages to conceal this from all but the most observant enemies. Other than a slowing in his movements and a slight favoring of that side when fighting, he seems to have compensated enough to remain a nigh-unstoppable killing machine.
  • Until Death Do Us Part: Mamoru is a master of the katana to the point that he uses it as his only weapon IN ACTUAL MILITARY COMBAT and owns everyone's asses. And yes, he's blind without the special glasses that Igawa made which show him where objects are as wire frames on a perspective grid. He's almost as skilled without them, though.
  • Basilisk:
    • Gennosuke's uncle and Big Brother Mentor Hyouma Muroga has severe eyesight problems, though the exact source and effects vary per media. In any case, he's still not to be trifled with.
    • Koushirou Chikuma falls victim to Eye Scream halfway through the series, but learns to use his hearing to compensate. That lets him defeat and kill the aforementioned Hyouma, a man who can only open his eyes briefly to use his poersd... which don't work on blind opponents like Koushirou.

    Comic Books 
  • King Snake, in the Batman family of comics, was blinded by gunfire at an early age, but became one of the best martial artists in the 'verse in spite of it. He's so good that on one occasion where his sight was restored, it actually threw him off his game enough that Tim Drake's Robin could hold his own against him.
  • Daredevil:
    • The title character, fighting with his cane/Escrima Stick/grappling hook.
    • Also his teacher, Stick.
    • And Stick's teacher, Master Izo ("Master" seems to be part of his name, he's that badass).
  • The Blind Master from Marvel Comics' G.I. Joe series.
  • Best Tiger from Invincible is a subversion...he can see perfectly well, but chooses to fight blindfolded because that's the only way combat is any kind of challenge to him.
  • In Old Man Logan, an elderly Hawkeye has lost his sight. However, as long as he can hear his target, his aim is just as deadly as ever.
  • Star Wars Legends:
    • In Vader's Quest, Luke is blinded, temporarily, but that doesn't slow him down, at least at first - a dozen or so people immediately try to kill him, and he beats them all without killing any of them. It's only later, when he's not fighting, that he has trouble.
    • A variant in the Expanded Universe are the Miraluka species who, at best, have vestigial eye sockets. Their "sight" is entirely Force-based. They're usually pacifists, but if you see one packing a lightsaber, you're better off running the other direction.
  • Zato Ino, "The Blind Swordspig", in Usagi Yojimbo, can "see" things thanks to his sense of smell.
  • Cyclops of the X-Men has two options when he loses his glasses: Keep his eyes open and kill everything in sight, or keep them shut and beat the living hell out of his opponents while counting his footsteps so he can find his way back to where his glasses landed.
  • X-Men villain Destiny was a Blind Seer who fought with a crossbow, her precognitive power giving her perfect aim.
  • Wonder Woman:
    • Volume 1: Bellerophon was blinded by Zeus in antiquity for having the temerity to question whether the Olympians were gods and trying to fly to Olympus on Pegasus. He's still winning his fight with Wonder Woman until she brings her robot plane close enough to mess with his hearing.
    • Volume 2: After blinding herself in her fight with Medusa Wonder Woman is not much hindered by her new blindness in a fight, because she's trained blindfolded and has enhanced senses she's still a better fighter than most of the Justice League.

    Fan Works 
  • Codex Equus has one in Prince Crimson Star, an Alicorn demigod who is based on Primarch Magnus the Red. Despite being completely blind, he was able to become a really good crackshot with long-range Magitek weapons such as crossbows, though he's no slouch with fighting in close quarters, either, as he can fight with a giant-bladed glaive through which he can channel his Psychic Powers for elemental status effects.
  • RWBY: Reckoning has this in one of the story's original characters, Professor Kor. He's the teacher of weaponry at Beacon Academy, and is described as having bandaged eyes. It's later revealed that he was blinded due to a Goliath attack.
  • Fox from RWBY: Scars is a hunter-in-training who is blind. However, he's killed before he can graduate Beacon.
  • Though a Bird Can't Fly, That Doesn't Mean It Never Will chronicles Kuina (Zoro's childhood friend from One Piece) and her struggles with becoming this.
  • Warriors Rewrite: Willowpelt is an adept warrior who has very minimal vision and can only see blurry shapes.

    Film — Live-Action 
  • Ray Charles in The Blues Brothers. Fires a couple of warning shots at a would-be guitar thief.
  • Rutger Hauer's character in Blind Fury is a blind modern day swordsman who manages to singlehandedly destroy a crime syndicate. It's essentially a Western take off on Zatoichi.
  • Walter in Blindsided: the Game wields his white cane, a knife, and a sword cane within the course of the film.
  • The titular Eli, from The Book of Eli.
  • Being blind himself, Matt Murdock in Daredevil uses this trope through out this movie, though he technically cheats by using echolocation to see.
  • The Blind Man in Don't Breathe. He may be blind, but being a Gulf War veteran means that he has the training to ensure his skills weren't dulled by this setback.
  • Parodied in Dinner for Schmucks, where one of the eponymous "schmucks" fancies himself a blind Master Swordsman. He isn't.
  • The titular Master of the Flying Guillotine, who's also an Improbable Weapon User.
  • Sheldon Sands in the last third of Once Upon a Time in Mexico.
  • Orc Wars: Whitefeather, a blind swordsman who kills a whole bunch of orcs.
  • Parodied in Robin Hood: Men in Tights: During a fight scene in the Sheriff's castle, Robin's blind manservant Blinkin is shown furiously swinging his sword... the camera then pans away to reveal his "opponent" is actually a wooden pillar. In a later scene he snatches an arrow out of the air just as its about to pierce Robin's heart, claiming "I could hear that comin' from a mile away!" When Robin thanks him a second later, he cluelessly blurts out "What's that? Who's talkin'?!"
  • In Scent of a Woman blind retired Army Ranger Lieutenant Colonel Frank Slade shows his nephew Randy that you don't insult Slade's caretaker Charlie. When Randy does so, Slade manages to get up from the dinner table, grab Randy by the throat, and slam him against the nearest wall and demonstrate a chokehold he learned in the Army.
  • Star Wars: Rogue One: Former Guardian of the Whills Chirrut Îmwe is blind, but takes down stormtroopers five at a time with his staff. How?
    Chirrut Îmwe: I am one with the Force, and the Force is with me.
    • In another fight he uses an energy bow to shoot a dogfighting TIE Fighter in flight in the exact way to make it crash into an anti-aircraft gun.
  • Ichi from Zatoichi, is a master of the sword, which he hides within his cane.

  • Maestro Killian, the trainer of Cursors in the Codex Alera book Academ's Fury. He compensates for his blindness through his furycrafting.
  • Drizzt in The Dark Elf Trilogy meets and learns from Montolio "Mooshie" Debrouchee, who is an expert with the sword, shield, and bow (His pet owl helps him aim).
  • In Ea Cycle Atara becomes a combination of this and Blind Seer after she gets blinded by the Big Bad.
  • See No Evil in A Lullaby Sinister. His eyes are closed shut by rusty cables but he somehow manages to maneuver through the halls of the Surrogate School with little difficulty as he slaughters his way through students. Furthermore, trigger him by making the slightest noise and he will make a beeline straight towards you.
  • Mortal Engines: The Cyborg Stalker Fang becomes one of these in A Darkling Plain, as, after being heavily damaged, she is found and repaired by a child named Fishcake, but he makes a point of not replacing her damaged eye crystals as he fears that if her sight was restored, she'd decide he was useless to her and abandon him. She remains a competent fighter regardless, effortlessly snapping the necks of some thugs who threaten Fishcake's life and being able to hold her own against two fully-sighted combat stalkers.
  • In Neuromancer, Hideo is able to use Zen archery to hit a target in complete darkness, or after being blinded by a laser.
  • Star Wars Legends has the Miraluka. They appears human, but living on a planet with infrared light has left them blind. They can use the Force to sense and "see", but were otherwise blind and usually wear dark glasses or a blindfold. Inquisitor Jerec is one notable character who fits this trope. A Jedi turned Dark Jedi, he was referenced first as a blind human, but was retconned to being Miraluka. There were a few Miraluka Jedi, but they also had their own Force tradition.
  • Two of them in Swordspoint. One of them Richard is regretfully forced to kill, the other one is Richard. Later in life, anyway.
  • One of the stories in World War Z details the life of a blind Japanese gardener who becomes a one-man zombie-killing army.

    Live-Action TV 
  • Blind assassin girl on Angel "Blind Faith". She made herself blind living in a cave, but her infrared ability will still let her kick your ass.
  • On Covert Affairs, Auggie is a former Special Forces soldier who was blinded on a mission in Tikrit. He can also fight better than any sighted person in the entire series.
  • In Season 6 of Game of Thrones, Arya draws on her experience having to fight the fully-sighted Waif while previously temporarily blinded to gain an advantage over her by putting out the candle in her cell when the Waif comes to kill her in "No One". She's next seen putting the Waif's face in the stores at the temple of the Many-Faced God.
  • When not smilingly speaking wisdom, Master Po from Kung Fu swings a pretty mean staff.
  • Subverted by an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation where Worf blindfolds a martial arts student as part of a test and tells her to anticipate his attacks. He kicks her ass until she quits, saying that the test is unfair. Worf admits of course you'll lose a fight if you're blind. The real test was getting the nerve to say that to his face.

  • The Knight in Leslie Fish's "Cripple's Shield Wall." He cannot see, and must know his ground in a fight, but that's compensated for, he is scary good with the sword and unhampered by "dark, fog, or rain"
  • The Pinball Wizard from The Who's rock opera Tommy was a deaf dumb and blind kid who was the champion pin baller.

    Tabletop Games 
  • Most fantasy or martial arts settings will have some way to build this character type. Pathfinder invokes this trope with the Swordmaster's Blindfold, which blinds the wearer to everything beyond weapon's reach, but does nice things for critical hits.
    • The Blind-Fight feat chain removes most of the impairments associated with blindness in combat, and the Blinded Blade Style feat chain gives combat-related benefits when blinded. However, this only helps in melee combat and offers little benefits against ranged attacks, but it's still pretty good to render gaze attacks, concealment and invisibility useless.
  • In Legend of the Five Rings, Phoenix Champion Shiba Tsukimi is blinded by the sunlight off her opponent's blade in a duel toward the end of a war between her clan and the Scorpion. However, her connection to the Soul of Shiba and, possibly more importantly, to the Void allows her to see without seeing. As a result, she's still a powerful fighter and skilled duelist.
  • Eltharion the Grim from Warhammer was briefly (c. 2001-2006) changed from his usual "grim Griffon-riding High Elf hero" persona and turned into a blind sword master (after Malekith, the Witch King of the Dark Elves, had his eyes put out as punishment for his unprecedented success in leading armies against Dark Elf cities). His original stylings were eventually reinstated, however, and the blinding incident retconned out of existence.
  • Mr Fixer in Sentinels of the Multiverse has been blind since birth, but ridiculously intense martial arts training has left him as, per Word of God, the single most technically skilled fighter in the world (there are more dangerous fighters, but those tend to rely upon powers rather than technique and many actually fight fairly sloppily), trained to use an aura vision that is usually very helpful, and able to kung fu so effectively he can create radiant light to destroy vampires using only his martial art skill. He's so skilled with weapons that replacing his old bo staff and nunchaku with random wrenches and crowbars from around his garage did little to prevent him from waging war on an entire crime syndicate by himself and doing very well.

    Video Games 
  • Sirhan Dogen from the second Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth game is a blind assassin. It helps when you've trained your seeing-eye dog to kill for you, but he is also quite deadly with a knife.
  • Adkin Chambers in Arcanum, despite having had his eyes cut out by Garrick Stout after losing a duel with him, remains a competent martial artist and the continent's foremost expert on dodging and defensive techniques.
  • Augus from Asura's Wrath is apparently one of these. Albeit hard to notice at first because he and Asura tend to have white glowing eyes regardless, Asura's threat to "Rip out those blind eyes" and his lack of pupils makes it obvious.
  • The Flash game The Blind Swordsman lets you play as one. The game shows a blank screen, you use audio cues to determine the location and actions of your enemies.
  • Dark Souls I has the legendary Hawkeye Gough, one of Gwyn's Four Knights who shot down countless dragons with a bow and arrow (it helps that he's a giant as big as a house and his bow is as big as he is). When you meet him in Artorias of the Abyss, he has gone blind and now spends his days making wood carvings, but is still a good enough shot that he can snipe the dragon Kalameet out of the sky on his first attempt, incapacitating him enough so that you can finally have a (somewhat) fair fight with him.
    • However, if you kill Gough and take his stuff, the Flavor Text on his helmet says that a bunch of Fantastic Racists who didn't like giants stuffed the eyeholes full of pine resin to screw with him, so he might not actually be blind and only thinks he is because he can't see out of his helmet and hasn't tried removing it.
    • In Dark Souls III, neither of the Twin Princes can see all that well: Lothric is afflicted with terrible cataracts, while Lorian's Cool Crown covers his eyes (for bonus points, Lorian can also barely walk). Doesn't stop them from combining Lothric's magic and Lorian's swordplay to kick your ass over and over and over again.
  • The Asura subclass of the Slayer from Dungeon Fighter Online. Purchases powerful Sword Beam spells by selling his eyes to a demon parasite in his left arm.
  • The Elder Scrolls:
    • Oblivion has retired members the Cult of the Ancestor Moth (commonly known as "Moth Priests"). Their order is based around divining the information contained within the Elder Scrolls, using a ritual known as the Ritual of the Ancestor Moth. Even with their special protective training, repeated readings of the Scrolls will render them blind. Blinded Moth Priests are sent into retirement, but despite this handicap, are still quite capable of defending themselves in combat. A group fought during the Thieves' Guild questline are some of the only characters in the game to use Akaviri Dai-Katanas other than the Blades.
    • Skyrim has the Falmer, a Morlock-like race of devolved former Snow Elves. Blinded in ancient times after being forced to ingest poisonous mushrooms by their Dwemeri cousins, they are every bit as capable of archery and sword-fighting as the other elven races thanks to their excellent hearing.
  • Final Fantasy XV: Around the halfway point of the game, Ignis is permanently blinded. He spends the next few chapters at subpar, though he gets an Attack Its Weak Point technique and some improved dodgeability at the end of the first dungeon he spends in this state. After the Time Skip for the endgame, he's back to fighting as well as (if not better than) he was before.
  • Riku spends the majority of Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days wearing a blindfold. This is because if he were to open it, he would physically turn into Ansem, the Seeker of Darkness. He stops wearing it after capturing Roxas, because it took Ansem to overpower Roxas.
    Ignis: I don't need sight to sense what's around me.
  • Xiao Long from Mace: The Dark Age.
  • Kenshi from Mortal Kombat. However he makes up for it by using telekinesis to manipulate objects he can't physically see (including his sword).
  • Hangan in Onmyōji
    Hangan: Though my eyes don't reflect, my heart feels.
  • Xachariah in Planescape: Tormentwas a former companion of The Nameless One and an expert marksman who could sense things hidden to others, despite being both blind and perpetually-drunk.
  • Gaichû in Shadowrun Returns: Hong Kong is a ghoul, and therefore blind. He was also a highly accomplished swordsman before his ghoulification, and being suddenly struck blind slowed him down for a few weeks at most before he was able to compensate with his new senses.
  • Oddler from Shining Force seems like more like a Blind Seer until late in the game, when he reveals he is one of these as well. And is also a demon.
  • Voldo from the Soul series is a blind man who wields a pair of katars with great skill. Also, he might cause you to go blind yourself just by looking at him.
  • In Speed Kills, Ahriman is a variant, being a driver rather than a fighter. He has a sort of tightly-buckled hood across most of his face, but still seems to be able to win races just fine.
  • Star Wars Legends:
    • Visas Marr from Knights of the Old Republic II; since the Miraluka are all blind but "see" with the Force, any Miraluka could be this. Also, Kreia has let her eyes "atrophy from disuse", using the Force to see instead. This does not limit her combat abilities.
    • Star Wars: The Old Republic has the Miraluka as a playable species and, once unlocked with either cartel coins or through the Legacy system, is available to all classes. Have fun playing as a blind sniper!
    • Jerec, the Big Bad of Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II, is also a Miraluka, depicted with a thin ribbon covering his eyesockets. He is the most powerful of the Dark Jedi Kyle faces.
    • Master Rahm Kota in The Force Unleashed, once he snaps himself out of his Heroic BSoD enough to rouse himself from his drunken stupor, that is. He shows this more in the sequel.
  • Haborym, from Tactics Ogre.
  • Demon hunters in the Warcraft franchise, the most notable of which is Illidan (seen in the page picture), don't just wear blindfolds - their eyes are burned away by demonic energy, and they use Aura Vision instead. In the World of Warcraft expansion pack Legion, they became a playable hero class. Note, however, that since the release of World Of Warcraft Illidan, they are (in addition to aura vision) far from blind, as it was retconned that they can adjust their Spectral Sight, which allows them to see like any other normal living being.
  • Hunter from Zeno Clash is a crack shot with a sniper rifle and explosive squirrels. Later, when you fight him in hand-to-hand combat, he starts the fight literally holding one hand behind his back. When he gets bored of that and starts using both hands, the fight turns into a Hopeless Boss Fight.
  • According to the lore of the Ivalice Alliance games, the Bangaa have bad eyesight and some wear blindfolds as a result. One of the Bangaa classes in Final Fantasy Tactics A2 has them wearing a blindfold and using cards as projectile weapons and causing a variety of status effects. Their accuracy is just as good as other characters with normal eyesight.

  • Homestuck's Terezi is very handy with her cane. Though she's not entirely blind (she can see synaesthetically via smell and taste).
  • Dame Goodlaw from Rusty and Co. always closes her eyes when she's fighting. Nobody's really sure why.
  • No Need for Bushido has Ryoku, a blind swordsman, (he's essentially an evil version of Daredevil, if Daredevil was a samurai assassin) and Cho, a blind martial arts master with a preference for using a Simple Staff who claims to be guided by the Tao itself and may be the best fighter in the series despite being not only blind but also a first class Cloud Cuckoolander. The unlikeliness of there being more than one man like this is parodied at one point, when Ken, one of the main characters, is knocked out, and while he's unconscious Ryoku kidnaps Ina. When he comes to Ken is told that "the blind fighter guy" took Ina, and immediately turns on Cho and demands to know why Cho betrayed them. When told that it wasn't Cho but someone else, Ken is completely dumbfounded at learning that there are (at least) two such "blind fighter guys" in the country.

    Western Animation 
  • Avatar: The Last Airbender: Toph Beifong's blind and uses her earthbending abilities to "see" via the vibrations she feels through her feet (also known as "Seismic Sense"). She's only 12 (and is also kind of small for her age), but is easily the most powerful non-Avatar earthbender ever, to the point of improving on the art by inventing metalbending (which was previously thought to be impossible). At age 86, she shows how much she's progressed by casually dodging airbending (admittedly, sight wouldn't be that useful against it, but it's something she can't sense via earthbending either).
  • Subverted in The Boondocks with Stinkmeaner. In his first confrontation with granddad he kicked Robert's butt and Huey assumes it's because of this trope. Turns out he just got lucky and wasn't a good fighter at all. He literally died due to this misunderstanding.
    • Played straight in the same episode with Huey's dream of "The Blind Nigga Samurai." Which is a clear homage to the Ninja Scroll example above.
    • Averted, afterward he went to hell, and learned martial arts and weapons combat becoming a master in both, from the devil himself just so he could kill the Freeman family. Though really he was just doing it for For the Evulz.
  • In the Bad Future episode of Gargoyles, Broadway is blind but can "see" using an echolocation collar invented by Lexington, allowing him to fight.
  • In Miraculous Ladybug, Kagami's mother Tomoe Tsurugi is both blind and a world champion fencer.
  • An episode of Samurai Jack contained three blind, dog-like demons,or rather men who were possessed by a magic well, who were able to use arrows with supernatural accuracy due to their incredible hearing. Jack trains himself to fight blindfolded in order to combat them.
  • Star Wars Rebels:
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003): There is one episode where Donatello is sent to a Bad Future where the Shredder has enslaved the earth. This future Leonardo is heavily-scarred and wears dark, round shades instead of his mask, implying that he is blind. It doesn't stop him from being an excellent swordsman and nearly killing Karai.
  • In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012) Shredder's right hand man, Hattori Tatsu, is a blind ninja swordsman and an expert at combat. He is able to hold his own against seven opponents at once. The turtles and crew are only able to beat him by taking away the only thing that lets him fight, his hearing. Leo, Raph, and Donny use Casey Jones's explosive pucks to cover Karai's footsteps as she runs towards Tatsu and deafens him with a head strike before taking him down. When Tatsu is deafened the entire world looks like a White Void Room letting Karai take him down with little trouble.

    Real Life 
  • This guy, a champion of blind judo who beat up a mugger.
  • One of Cracked's 5 People Whose Major Disabilities Only Made Them Stronger is a blind sharpshooter. That he's not a rara avis but just a very noticeable example of a whole sport (carbine shooting for the blind, using acoustic "sights") doesn't make it less but more awesome.
  • King John the Blind of Bohemia — blind (or almost blind) for a decade — lost eyesight in 1336 but was still fighting in tournaments, before being killed in the battle of Crécy.
  • The whole point of the Spanish-origin martial art DisFiSen (from Disminuidos Físicos y Sensoriales, "physical and sensory disabled persons"), taylor-designed for people with disabilities, specifically blindness.
  • The (Spanish) description of this video states it's a sparring session of a blind woman fighting with medieval flail before her actual combat at a reenactment event. It also states she won the actual fight, to the surprise of some jerkass in the public who thought the fight was a comedic one.
  • Termites of the subfamily Naustiternitinae utilize a specialized gland, known as a "Fontanellar gun", to project glue-like sticky projectiles that immobilize or kill attackers. They can fire these guns with great accuracy, despite being completely blind. It's something of a mystery as to how the termites are able to not only orient themselves towards their enemies, but fire with such precision, though it's theorized that they can sense the position of their targets through scent or hearing.
  • As seen in Dealt, Richard Turner didn't let his blindness prevent him from becoming a karate master. For his black belt test, he had to fight ten fresh fighters in full-on brawls and passed, despite breaking his arm in the process.


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